NEWARK, N.J. — The Cliff Keen Wrestling Club’s Real Woods swept Joey McKenna in the 65kg best-of-three-series at Final X on Saturday evening (June 14) at the Prudential Center to earn his spot on the 2025 U.S. senior freestyle world team.
Woods earned wins of 7-3 and 5-4 in the championship series. He rallied late in the first bout, hitting a head pinch — first ruled four points then changed to two on video review — with just :14 remaining in the second period to take the lead on criteria then tacked on a four-pointer with McKenna flurrying in the waning seconds.
He used the opposite in the second bout, jumping out to a 4-0 lead after a big double leg midway through the first period. He held criteria after McKenna came back with a pair of two-point takedowns and, on a restart with just :25 left, stayed center to hold on for the win. McKenna’s corner challenged at match’s end looking for a singlet pull, but it was ruled inadvertent to give Woods an additional point.
Woods qualified for his first world team is just his first season of domestic freestyle competition. He took fourth place at the U.S. Open in April then won the World Team Trials Challenge Tournament last month to punch his ticket to Final X. In all, he has previously competed in four total freestyle tournaments — one being the Muhament Malo last February in Albania, where he took bronze at 65kg.
The 2025 World Championships is slated for Sept. 13-21 in Zagreb, Croatia. The CKWC also has Austin Gomez qualified to compete for Mexico at 70kg freestyle.
